Overstocked?

[James40]

hello, i wuz juss wondering if my 20g high is going to be overstocked if i put in 4 guppies a pair of bristle nose catfish and a pair of kuhli loaches and 5 brone cories... i have not put them in yet, for i am still cycling... a simple yes or no answer will suffice

 

[Torrean]

yes

edit: your unbalanced everything but the guppies is bottom dwelling...also high tanks tend to have less surface area which means less oxygen in the water. You'll probably want to create a good bit of surface agitation to compensate. Khuli's grow to 4" but they don't really count 4" in the " of fish per gallon rule since they are so thin. I'd say they are more like 2" of fish. You should get atleast 3 of them though. I suggest you cancel one of the bristlenose and either the khuli's or the cories and add a school of small midlevel swimmers.

 

[Dong]

Will be an overstocked tank after all fish grown to adult size. bristle nose catfish and kuhli loach grow to 4-5 inches, cories 2-3, and guppy usually 2. Also, if you have male and female guppies in the tank, you're likely to end up with lots of fries soon.

 

[James40]

how bout 3 guppies a pair of pearl gouramis and the cories? and if i went with those fish, could i put a type of algae eating fish? and fry wont be a problem becuz i have a 10g they can grow out in

 

[Neal]

If I was you i'd miss out the corys, the prefer longer tanks not high ones. I'm not sure how long a 50G tank would be, but if you give me an idea in inches I could tell you if it's suitable for corys or not.

 

[James40]

50g? i have a 20g

 

[Neal]

Oh sorry, I mis-read it. What is the length and width of the tank mate?

 

[James40]

2ft long 17 in high 1ft wide

 

[Dong]

how bout 3 guppies a pair of pearl gouramis and the cories? and if i went with those fish, could i put a type of algae eating fish? and fry wont be a problem becuz i have a 10g they can grow out in

Will still be overstocked in adult size... If you just simply look at the 1" per gallon rule, you'll have 2*4(two pearl gouramis)+2*3(guppies)+5*2.5(cory)=26.5, all in adult size.
Since it is already overstocked with 1" per gallon rule, it is definitely overstocked.

But if you have a good filter, I think you can still manage the bio-load. You'll have to do frequent water changes though...

 

[Neal]

2ft is fine for corys, and I'm no expert but I don't think you'd be overstocked but if your worried then i'd get extra filtration. My 2ft tank is overstocked and my Fluval 2 copes fine with it, and i've had no problems with it *fingers crossed*.
HTH,
Neal

 

[James40]

how bout 3 guppies a pair of pearl gouramis and the cories? and if i went with those fish, could i put a type of algae eating fish? and fry wont be a problem becuz i have a 10g they can grow out in

Will still be overstocked in adult size... If you just simply look at the 1" per gallon rule, you'll have 2*4(two pearl gouramis)+2*3(guppies)+5*2.5(cory)=26.5, all in adult size.
Since it is already overstocked with 1" per gallon rule, it is definitely overstocked.

But if you have a good filter, I think you can still manage the bio-load. You'll have to do frequent water changes though...

from wut i have read in this site it seems that the 1" per gallon rule is flawed?

 

[Torrean]

yes it's flawed but it's still a good guideline. If you have larger fish like 4"+ or very wide or very messy fish then it doesn't exactly apply also if you have narrow bodied fish like khuli's it doesn't apply but it's still a good way to avoid massive overstocking.

 

[Dong]

2ft is fine for corys, and I'm no expert but I don't think you'd be overstocked but if your worried then i'd get extra filtration. My 2ft tank is overstocked and my Fluval 2 copes fine with it, and i've had no problems with it *fingers crossed*.
HTH,
Neal

Yes it is flawed since the 1" per gallon rule tend to UNDERESTIMATE the amount of space required. i.e. More room is actually required. So if you can't pass that 1" per gallon rule, your tank is gotta be overstocked.